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super easy cheater indian tacos..

we went out of town with tina and lo this past 3 day weekend.. we drove to northern nevada to tina's family cabin.. it was about a 6 hour drive.. and usually when tina and i sit in the back our conversations span from what the kids are doing to swapping recipes.. i had been seeing on the internet food blog world recipes for indian tacos.. and tina said she used to make them all the time.. they sounded yummy so i thought i would try them.. now i call mine cheater ones because i improvised with what i had and not how others i have seen make them.. you see we didn't get home from our trip until late in the afternoon on sunday and i had no time to go to the store for the week for meals so i had pete go on Monday after work and he will only go if the list is very short and doesn't call for anything to complicated.. so pizza dough and taco seasoning made its way to the list and that's what i used to make these indian tacos.. now you may be asking yourself why would packaged taco seasoning make its way onto my list. well let me tell you why.. ha last month for my birthday one my best friends, helene hosted bunco and her mom was in town and i just love her cooking!! so her mom made enchiladas and tacos.. i love love her tacos.. i love them so much that when it came time for dessert that night even though she had bought me 2 of my favorite kinds of pies i had another taco instead of pie.. *which i really wish i had at least taken a piece home* so i emailed my friend and asked how her mom made her tacos.. and i am thinking i am going to be let into some mexican family tradition that if i repeat to anyone they will have to kill me... and believe me i was prepared for that type of sworn secrecy type agreement.. but nope she emailed back lawry's or shilling taco seasoning!! umm hello what?? the heck!! but yep that's what she used.. i had never used package taco mix for my tacos.. ha.. go figure.. i've used it for my chili but never tacos.. so i decided i would try it and well then the convo of indian tacos came up and well the rest as they say is history and let me tell you they were so good.. i will definitely be making these again.. the pictures don't have shredded cheese but i had it for everyone else to use i guess mine didn't have any on it :( now i am sad i forgot to add the cheese on mine..

indian tacos

prep time: 15 minutes

cooking time: 15 minutes

servings: 3

ingredients:

1 premade purchased pizza dough (i used wheat)

1.2 lb ground turkey (or beef)

1 package shilling hot taco mix

1/4 cup of water

canola oil

flour

refried pinto beans (recipe below)

shredded cheddar cheese

onion, diced

tomato, diced

cilantro, chopped

sour cream

in a medium pot over medium low heat brown meat until crumbly.. add package taco seasoning and water and combine and turn heat to simmer.. while its simmering take your pizza dough and cut off a chunk...on a well floured surface roll out your "chunk" to about a 1/4 inch thick and mine were like a 6" by 3" rectangle.. then i took my flat iron skillet i use for tortilla's and put it on a medium-high heat and then added a very light coating of oil and "fried" my shell that way they kinda puff up.. but there really wasn't that much oil at all.. i repeated that until i had made six shells.. then spread refried beans, layer on meat mixture, top with cheese, onions, tomatoes, cilantro and sour cream.. yummyyyy.. we ate it like a tostada..

cut up your bacon and cook in an iron skillet until tender but not crispy.. add pinto beans juice and all.. simmer for about an hour or until most of the liquid is evaporated.. about 10 minutes before serving mash with a potato masher.. i keep some beans still whole because I really don't like totally creamy smooth beans.. just unappealing to me.. top with cheese if desired.. my mom used to chop fresh rosemary from our back yard and stir that in at the last minute too..

I have had a love for cooking since I was young.. well ok at first it wasn't a love it was my "chore." but love came later.. When I turned 16 my Mother started me reading recipes on Sunday and then picking 2 or 3 from her cook books or magazines and then preparing a grocery list from the recipe (which today I am lost if I don't have my detailed list for my trip to the store) from my list I would then clip coupons and I would head off to the grocery store.. As an incintive (I always need incintives and money works wonders *smile*) I was allowed to keep any money I saved from the coupons and she would then pay me per meal I made. I had to cook at leaast 2 a week but if wanted more money I would cook more, the prices ranged from $5.00 for simple meals such as tacos and refried beans (no canned in my house) or $15.00 for something like Chicken Cacciatore (because it takes so much longer but is so much worth it). So when I got married and got a house of my own I was able to conquer the grocery store and cooking delicious meals. um thanks Mom?